← Table of contents
The First Four Books of Xenophon's Anabasis

Note 112 — Chapter V

J. S. (John Selby) Watson translation

Τὴν δ' ἐπὶ τῇ καρδιᾳ —— ἔχοι.] Sc. ὄρθην. The sense is, "but to wear a tiara erect on the heart, that is, to have a kingly spirit and to aspire to dominion, is what another, by your aid, might be able to do." Tissaphernes, by this expression, wished to make it understood that he might possibly, with the support of the Greeks, aspire to the throne of Persia himself. A similar metaphor is noticed by Schæfer, (ad Greg. Corinth. p. 491.) in Philostratus v. a. iii. p. 131: δοκεῖ μοι καὶ τὸν προγνωσόμενον ἄνορ ὑγιῶς ἑαυτοῦ ἔχειν ——' καθαρῶς δὲ αὐτὸν προφητεύειν, ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τοῦ περὶ τῷ στέρνῳ τρίποδος συνιέντος. Kühner. See Cyrop. viii. 3. 13. Hutchison refers to Dion Chrysost. xiv. extr. Lucian Piscat. p. 213. See also Strabo, xv. p. 231, where the Persian tiara is said to be πίλημα πυργωτόν, in the shape of a tower; and Joseph. Ant. xx. 3. "The tiaras of the king's subjects were soft and flexible: Schol. ad Plat. de Repub." Krüger.

Explore with AITake your curiosity a little further.

Reading settings